Conference napalm::guitar

    No,Mesa Boogie tubes will not make your Twin sound like a Boogie,but
    if you redesign your preamp circuits and add a solid state graphic
    eq. you could come pretty close......to getting that singing overdrive
    sound. It's alot of work!!!
    
    							Rick
    

I was recently (over the last year) using a Fender bandmaster, with
replacement Mesa Boogie tubes. The Boogie tubes 
were used to replace a set of tired Fender (I'm not sure of the actual
brand) power tubes. It really made the amp sound nice for a month or so,
really brightened it up and eliminated some noise, but it got tired
again after a month or so. The Mesa tubes were passed on from another 
Fender dual reverb amp, and I don't know hold old they were, or if they were
a matched set or not. In any case, it sure DID NOT turn it
into a Mesa Boogie amp, by any far strech of the imagination.

Some articles I've read about Mesa indicates that they start with
a basic Fender design, but they do things like beefing up the pre-amp,
xformer, and match all components (including tubes), with extensive
on the bench measurement and tweeking.

So, you might get a slightly better sound with matched Boogie tubes
in your fender than radio shack variety, but don't expect magic.

Gee, I sure wish I could afford one of 'dem Boogers myself.

    Anytime the power tubes are replaced with different manufacturer
    types it will pay you to have your amps BIAS adjusted by a qualified
    tech... the charge for this service is usually nominal: $15 or so
    and will insure your costly tubes last longer and you'll sound so
    much betta!
    
    Keep on playin'
    
    Paul

    Boogie Tubes? Are they the only answer?
    
    HECK NO! I have a MK-IIc and there is no easy way of adjusting the bias.
    Mesa sets it up for "their" tubes so if you want to rebias...  it
    make take removing their preset components and replacing them with
    variable ones. In my case I'm going to replace my MESA tubes with
    Sovteks 6881's. What I'll do however is "check" the voltages between
    the Mesa tubes (already in the amp), the recommended voltages I should
    have (refer to the schematic) and then with the Sovteks. If it's close
    to what Mesa expects I'm going to leave them in without buying MESA
    tubes. I personally like the warm saturation I get from my PV-MX with
    the Sovteks and I've been using them for about 6 months. Now, I can't
    answer if the Sovteks will "last" as long (or longer) as Mesa 6L6's, 
    but I'm willing to spend the money up front to find out. I'll let you
    know what the result is as soon as I crank this baby up and again six
    months down the road.
    
    		Rock on,
    			Fred 
    

	Fred, where are you buying your Sovtek 6881's?

	-pat

	I got my Sovtek 5881s from Harvey's Music in Milford. You can
	also call New Sensor Corp. in New York. They advertise in the
	classified section of all the guitar rags.

    re: .5
    
    I got them at Harvey's Music in Milford, N.H.  FWIW.
    
    NOTE: Sorry, I had a "stupid attack" when I entered my note...  
          the Sovteks are the "5881" variety and *not* 6881. Thanks for 
          clearing the confusion Charles!
    
    
    				Fred

    What is a Marshall/5150 lover to do... my two favorite guitarists in
    the world (John Petrucci and Harry K Cody) are now both using entire
    MESA guitar systems!!!
    
    ;'(

    re: -1
    
    well Buck, you need to go Mesa......oh, I'll give ya $50 for the 5150.
    
    :*}
    
    cheep_dawg

    Buck,
    
    I always knew that some day, some way, you'd come around to Boogies.
    
    Sounds like that's just around the corner.
    
    ;-)

    OK, I'll give ya $75 for the 5150; but that's as high as I go!
    
    :*}

    What comes around does indeed go around:
    
    Buck has long been anti-Boogie
    
    Fred's personal name was "Don't need no stinkin boogie"
    
    db has been a longtime Boogie advocate.
    
    I can see the day where I walk down into my basement studio where
    my bands with Fred and Buck rehearse and see:
    
    	o Fred's Mark IIC
    	o Bucks Tri-Axis 
    
    and...
    
    
    
    	o Blick's Marshall stack!!!!!!!!!
    
    (I did go thru a "checking out Marshalls" stage a few years ago.  Even
    borrowed Kevin McD's for a gig and loved it.)

    re: -1
    
    It could happen......Pat Blair once predicted that Coop would own a
    strat.....about 2 years before Coop got a strat!
    
    It could happen......

>    	o Fred's Mark IIC
>    	o Bucks Tri-Axis 
    
    I'd have Buck pegged for a Mark IV man, myself.
    
    Greg (stickin with the Marshall...)

    RE: Bulldawg
    
    Umm, well, I'd had strats before...  ;-)  "Strats may come and go, but
    my pink RG550 will NEVER leave my hands"
    
    Buck - Warning,warning!!!  Do *not* plug into a TriAxis!!  If you do,
    you'll surely be putting some cash into one.  :-)
    
    Remember back in the days of Mp1's being BRAND NEW, and we'd entered
    notes saying that conceptually, the Mp1 should do Roland, Boogie, 
    Marshall and Fender sounds??  Perhaps in reality the Mp1 only had a 
    couple of REALLY GOOD sounds, but the TriAxis...Look out.  It does what
    the Mp1 attempted to do... And it does it perfectly!  Big FAT Angus
    Young to George Benson to Petrucci and all the in-betweens...
    And it's SIMPLE to set up, and quiet as a whisper.  
    
    Most importantly (to me) is the switching controls and the recording 
    compensated outputs (which sound phenominal!!).  

    Too many knobs on those Mark IV's.  I see Buck with a Triaxis anna
    Simul 2:90...

dbii has a desire to join the tri-axis or access owners club...all I need 
now is a third job :-)

dbii

    Hey Db2
    
    If you sell off all of that Kitty Litter you've got, maybe you could
    swing a TriAxis!  ;')
    
    ps -- whazzup with Al these days?!?

lemme see

a quattro 200 tops
a testerossa 200 tops
a bayette 200 tops

that's 1/2 a tri-axis...

besides I intended to keep the curent midi-rack for my "home" system and add
the tri-axis to my rivera as a "touring" system...

Al is still closed, the shop is re-built, has been, but he's selling his cars
etc off to eat while the insurance company hides behind the state statues that
allow them to hold onto the money for 60 days after the fire invesitgators sign
their report. He expects to get money in a week or so, then the mad dash to 
restock and try to get some revenue from the Christmas crush, but I'm not 
convinced that he'll have much inventory soon enough...

Needless to say this has stressed the band, but not nearly as much as it has
stressed Al.

Oh yeah, and his insurance company comandeered the 2nd story rehersal space to
"store" the  stuff they intend to "fire sale"...so we have no space to rehearse
in. THEY changed the  locks and locked all of  us, including Al, out...and I
still have some gear up there that I can't get to and honestly don't expect to
see ever again...(mikes, stands etc.).

dbii